#SFATW: A Dutch Bookish Guide

Welcome to my third SFATW post! For those of you who are unaware of what this means, here’s a quick recap:
Souvenirs From Across The World (SFATW) is a feature created by Marie@Drizzle & Hurricane Books to get to know each other a little better, focussing especially on where we are all from, and share a bit from our countries, cities, cultures, traditions, writers, and authors while we’re at it.The main goal of Souvenirs From Across The World is to create a link between all bloggers, from everywhere, and to share a bit of the diversity that makes everyone unique on the blogosphere.

This month (November 6th – December 4th)’s theme is:

BOOKS!

In this post, I will give you a fairly quick tour through the world of Dutch literature. I’m definitely not claiming I’m covering all the important works because…ain’t nobody got time for that! Maybe there will be one or two books in here that seem interesting to you. I tried going for those books which have an English translation available.

As I’ve sort of said up here, I’m not going to go in-depth here because I want to keep this post readable. I’m merely picking out some highlights in a more or less chronological order. Starting with the first book:

The History of Miss Sara Burgerhart was published in 1782 by a writer’s duo of two women: Betje Wolff and Aagje Deken. I believe this is one of the earliest Dutch works promoting female emancipation. It’s also the first Dutch modern novel in history! I can’t find any trace of an English translation here, sadly. You’ll just have to believe me when I say this is an important book in Dutch history.

Max Havelaar – a Dutch civil servant in Java – burns with an insatiable desire to end the ill treatment and oppression inflicted on the native peoples by the colonial administration. Max is an inspirational figure, but he is also a flawed idealist whose vow to protect the Javanese from cruelty ends in his own downfall. In Max Havelaar, Multatuli (the pseudonym for Eduard Douwes Dekker) vividly recreated his own experiences in Java and tellingly depicts the hypocrisy of those who gained from the corrupt coffee trade. Sending shockwaves through the Dutch nation when it was published in 1860, this damning exposé of the terrible conditions in the colonies led to welfare reforms in Java and continues to inspire the fairtrade movement today.

I don’t know how familiar you guys are with Dutch history, but being of the seafaring folk, we owned quite a few colonies back in the day.

With Indonesia being a very important colony and lots of Dutch people having grown up there, it’s not surprising that there’s a lot of literature set in Indonesia. Max Havelaar is one of them.

Maybe you’ve heard of the Max Havelaar Fair Trade brand? They sell a lot of coffee, for one.

Eline Vere is a young heiress: dreamy, impulsive, and subject to bleak moods. Though beloved among her large coterie of friends and relations, there are whispers that she is an eccentric: she has been known to wander alone in the park as well indulge in long, lazy philosophical conversations with her vagabond cousin. When she accepts the marriage proposal of a family friend, she is thrust into a life that looks beyond the confines of The Hague, and her overpowering, ever-fluctuating desires grow increasingly blurred and desperate.

First published in 1889, Eline Vere by Louis Couperus was considered a masterpiece, and still is to this day (obviously). It’s actually considered to be the Dutch version of Madame Bovary. I haven’t read either of these two books yet (yes, shame on me), so I can’t say anything about the comparison. The reason why I haven’t read Eline Vere yet is because it deals with insomnia and depression in a very realistic way. Being a bit too familiar with both of these topics, I just can’t put myself to reading it because I know it’s bound to upset me. It’s the same reason I’m not going to read The Bell Jar anytime soon.

After World War II, Dutch literature reached a peak, resulting in the naming of The Big Three: the authors Willem Frederik Hermans, Harry Mulish, and Gerard Reve.

The most impressive book I’ve read of Willem Frederik Hermans has got to be Nooit Meer Slapen (literally translated to To Never Sleep Again).

A young Dutch geologist Alfred Issendorf is determined to win fame for making a great discovery. To this end he joins a small geological expedition to the far north of Norway where he hopes to be the first to identify craters made by meteorites in the landscape. It is a harsh and deserted environment which brings out all the faultlines amongst the group of young men and in Alfred’s character. The tribulations increase: Alfred is unable to procure crucial aerial photographs, he falls on rocks, is soaked in a river, and is beset by mosquitoes and insomnia; the tent leaks appallingly. He is not a natural athlete, feels incapable, and knows he is superfluous to the group’s needs. Alfred becomes desperate and paranoid, suspecting the others are leagued in conspiracy against him and is before long approaching the limits of physical and mental endurance.

Haunted by the ghost of his scientist father, unable to escape the looming influence of his mother, and anxious to complete the thesis that will make his name, Alfred’s preoccupations multiply in this wilderness. As, piece by piece, his equipment is lost or ruined and his thinking becomes ever more disjointed, he moves towards the final act of vanity which will trigger a catastrophe.

If you like to read about terrifying nature and psychological and physical discomfort: this is the book for you. It will leave you hanging with an emotional hangover the size of someone’s penis.

A novel that probes moral devastation following a Nazi retaliation in a Dutch town. The Assault has been translated and published to great critical acclaim throughout Europe and in the United States.

It is the winter of 1945, the last dark days of the ware in occupied Holland. A Nazi collaborator, infamous for his cruelty, is assassinated as he rides on his bicycle. The Germans retaliate by slaughtering an innocent family: only the youngest son, twelve-year-old Anton, survives.

The Assault traces the complex repercussions of this nightmarish event on Anton’s life. Determined not to forget, he opts for a carefully normal existence—a prudent marriage, a successful career, and colorless passivity. But the past keeps breaking through, in relentless memories and in chance encounters with the other actors in the drama, until Anton finally learns what really happened that night in 1945, and why.

This was my first encounter with Dutch literature when I was fourteen or so. I was very impressed at the time. If you want to read about the Nazi occupation of Holland, this is a good book for it.

Another novel by Harry Mulish, The Discovery of Heaven, has been turned into a British movie with Stephen Fry playing one of the main characters.

’I work in an office. I take cards out of a file. Once I have taken them out, I put them back in again. That is it.’

Twenty-three-year-old Frits – office worker, daydreamer, teller of inappropriate jokes – finds life absurd and inexplicable. He lives with his parents, who drive him mad. He has terrible, disturbing dreams of death and destruction. Sometimes he talks to a toy rabbit.

This is the story of ten evenings in Frits’s life at the end of December, as he drinks, smokes, sees friends, aimlessly wanders the gloomy city street and tries to make sense of the minutes, hours and days that stretch before him.

Darkly funny and mesmerising, The Evenings takes the tiny, quotidian triumphs and heartbreaks of our everyday lives and turns them into a work of brilliant wit and profound beauty.

One of the most depressing books I’ve ever read in my life. I think I was around 16 when I read it for school, and while I already thought it was kind of a downer, mood-wise, when my best friend told me this story reminded her of my life at my parents, I was horrified!

If you want to find out how life for the average Dutch person was before the internet, the book has just been translated into English, published by Pushkin Press, and up for grabs at Edelweiss’s download section HERE.

I recently re-read and reviewed one of my favourite Dutch Children’s Books: Pluk van de Petteflet by Annie M.G. Schmidt, translated into Tow-Truck Pluck. You can read my review of the bookHERE. I was delighted to see Jasmine@How Useful It Isreviewing it as well the other day. Clicking on the last link will take you to her review!

De Kleine Kapitein(The Little Captain) by Paul Biegel is a lovely book about a child captain sailing around the world, having the most amazing adventures out there while baking pancakes on the deck. Much love! Apparently, there’s a translation in English, but lord knows where to find it.

During the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, a young Dutch boy’s German shepherd proves himself invaluable when his tracking ability saves his young owner’s life.

Even though the Snuf de Hond/Scout the Dog series is considered to be for young boys, I ate this shit up. A dog! In WWII! The perfect bookish companion for pretty much any season.

I’d love to show you a picture of my entire yellow Pinkeltje book collection, but sadly, they’re all spread out in boxes over two attics. I’m working hard on my attic to get my bookcases up and be able to unbox my old books!

Here are a few books (that have been published within the past twenty years), which have been written by a ‘foreign’ author, yet take place in The Netherlands.

Have you read any of these books? I haven’t…

I really enjoyed the book and am waiting for Delfy to poop out the sequel!

Here are some honourable mentions if you will, starting with The Diary of Anne Frank.

If you’ve never heard of her before: shame on you! I grew up with Anne being an all-around prominent figure. A symbol for injustice. Every first week of May, we celebrate being liberated from the Nazis, and that’s when Anne comes into play big time. Have any of you visited the Anne Frank house? I’ve been there twice and if you can put aside the whole tourist attraction vibe that’s going on, it’s also something terrifyingly interesting.

If you’ve seen the movie adaptation of The Fault in Our Stars, you’ve seen glimpses of the inside of the house!

Next up is not so much a book, but an author who has earned a place in my literary heart, even though he’s a drunk weirdo waiting to die of liver failure.

Hafid Bouazza was born in Morocco but came to Holland with his family when he was seven years old. We grew up in the same shithole, and I can positively say that we are most likely the only two people from our town who ended up studying Arabic at uni. My Arabic sucks balls currently because I’m never using it anymore, but the information should still be tucked away somewhere inside my brain! I’ve read four books of Hafid and love how he combines the Arabian Nights vibe with Dutch prose.

I have no idea if his novel Paravion has been translated into English, but I was able to find another one of his books, Abdullah’s Feet, over at Amazon.com HERE.

The Vanishing by Tim Crabbé is one of the most fucked up thrillers I’ve read. But maybe that’s because I first read it when I was twelve. Instead of a blurb, I give you a trailer of the movie! That’s right, Het Gouden Ei (The Golden Egg), as the book is originally called, has been turned into a Hollywood movie in 1993.

And something a little more recent…

Whoever is born here, is doomed to stay ’til death. Whoever settles, never leaves.

Welcome to Black Spring, the seemingly picturesque Hudson Valley town haunted by the Black Rock Witch, a 17th century woman whose eyes and mouth are sewn shut. Muzzled, she walks the streets and enters your homes at will. She stands next to your bed for nights on end. Everybody knows that her eyes may never be opened.

The elders of Black Spring have virtually quarantined the town by using high-tech surveillance to prevent their curse from spreading. Frustrated with being kept in lockdown, the town’s teenagers decide to break their strict regulations and go viral with the haunting, but in so doing send the town spiraling into the dark, medieval practices of the past.

Translated from Dutch into English last year, I heard Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt is seriously scary.

Anyone who has read this? I’m pooping my pants just thinking about it…

Which Dutch books seem interesting to you? Have you read any of these? Would you like to?

I’m ending this post with a completely irrelevant video of Michiel Huisman when he was still singing in Fontane, a Dutch boy band. Enjoy!

This is such an interesting post because (shamefully) I know so little about Dutch books!!! The only one I know on this list is Anne Frank- I need to rectify that pronto! And hopefully I will be going to Anne Frank’s soon!

The Diary of Anne Frank, I of course know 🙂 It is hard to imagine anyone over the age of 16 being unaware this. I believe it is still required reading here in the school systems. I am also familiar with The Vanishing and have heard of Hex.

And oh how do I remember your review of Tow-Truck Pluck. If memory serves me right, your were deprived of this as a child? 😦 How very sad. I remember when I saw that you were reading this on GR.. I kept trying to figure out why until I saw your post haha.

Aside from that, I am ashamed to say that I know little to nothing of Dutch literature. Well, aside from what you have kindly introduced me to today. This is a fantastic post for several reasons. It is well thought out. You always know how to articulate everything so well. I swear you could give a report on lima beans (aka butter beans) and I would read it! I love that you never seem to over or under do anything.

Oh, you’d be amazed there! The entire family of my Canadian ex had no idea who she was. And then my ex got angry at me for thinking they were pulling my leg :’).

Hahahaha, yes, deprived!! The injustice of it all :'(. ❤

Ask me about German literature, for instance, and I wouldn’t be able to come up with anything other than Herman Hesse either, so there’s absolutely nothing to be ashamed of! :-*
Omg Danielle, thank you so much ❤ ❤ ❤ I’m so flushed, I don’t even know what to say to it besides THANK YOU!

I read a book about a Canadian high school history teacher who was teaching his students that Hitler was given a raw deal, and that who was right and who was wrong in the war was a matter of perspective. Anyway, he showed the class the movie Schindler’s List, and the way the kids were talking about it was like they had little, if any, knowledge of The Holocaust, so I asked a teen Canadian blogger if that was realistic (because it was a review book) and she said yes, they really don’t teach anything much about The Holocaust in Canada. I was shocked. 😛

That is SO weird because there are a lot of Dutch people in Canada! My ex’s father was originally from Holland for crying out loud. Yet nothing! shakes head. Maybe it depends on which region you’re from, though.

Beyond Sleep caught my eye and interest for a number of reasons: psychological/physical challenges, Northern harsh environmnt, emotional hangovers and well, yes penis as well! Defo checking that one out…
I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but i am also intrigued by Eline Vere…

Great post as always Anne… very thorough and informative, definitely found something new here. Schooled! 😉

Oh yes, it’s why I chose to read it many years ago as well. Northern harsh environments are always a winner xD. And penises, well, not always, but sometimes, one can just happily surprise you. (I sincerely hope my parents won’t be reading this post now :’) ). Hahaha, I keep being drawn to it as well, but then I’m like NO. Must read fluffy stuff instead! Thank you very much! ❤ Yes, I bet you didn’t know we were liberated by the Nazis either eh? :’)

😀 hahaha… would it really shock your parents? Do they not know the cheeky girl that is Anne in real life? 😛 😀

The nazi liberation error… I saw your tweet about that… I think I winced and felt for you there… I’d have broken out in sweats realizing the error I’ve made, frantically pressing the edit button and waiting for wordpress to load… (cos my laptop is getting really slow, like super slow, and sometimes the mistakes I make horrify me and the edit page can’t load quick enough!) 😀

Yes it would, and no, they don’t! XD They think I’m a good girl and the poster girl for chastity! (A) Oh GAWD, I found out at 3am after 1 hour of sleep and had to edit it on my phone. shakes head it was terrifying. And I can edit it on the live post, but it will still be out there in the email forms and the WP reader post :/. WP is making my laptop spasm as well, so I completely understand what you’re referring to! Shudders

Oh damn, that sounds like a pretty awful experience… have you thought about just sending an excerpt of your post in the email notifications to the subscribers? There’s a setting somewhere you can tick to do that… good for two things, first the editing thing, and second, to read the full post subs actually have to visit the blog rather than reading your post in their inbox and then discarding it without interacting… ^^

Thanks for this post because other than The Diary of Anne Frank, I know nothing lol. I’m so jealous you’ve gone to visit her house! I would love to go there one day. Some of these books sound really intriguing. Thanks for talking about your roots, I always enjoy these type of post =)

I read The Diary of Anne Frank. That book…😂 my heart. It really sticks with you and I read it in grade school. The one cover looks familiar, but I don’t think I’ve heard of the rest. I’ll have to look them up. Speaking of Dutch books, I think Wintersong has some Dutch names and phrases in it, but the author hasn’t translated what the people are saying. I’ll have to pull some out of the book and let you read them. Fun post, Anne! 🙂

I’m so glad Anne Frank’s story is part of your education system :). I’m not a big fan of Dutch modern literature myself because, just like most Dutch movies, it pretty much always involves porn or is boring as feck. But it’s fun to look at the books that ARE good :). Oh, I didn’t know that about Wintersong ! Haha, I wonder if they’re talking about sausages ;). Thanks, Jill! 🙂

Funnily enough, I’m craving books about anxiety and depression to remind myself I’m not alone and it’s not the end of the world 🙂 Well, I only read them on good days, I don’t want to mess up my head any more than it already is! But Madame Bovary, yikes!! Nothing happens in this book, haha! I was forced to read it (sounds like we force books into teens’ hands a lot here!) and it was painfully slow!!
“an emotional hangover the size of someone’s penis.” Who’s penis are we talking about? Because some are too small to even mention! xD
I’m curious so I’ll get The Evenings, I need some diversity, even boring or depressing!
Loved your tour of the Dutch literary world, good job lady Sausy! ( Sounds better than Sausage :p some might take it the wrong way… Depending on what they think is the wrong way!)

I’ve been there as well! I’d love to read about others suffering from the same thing (okay, that sounded weird), but right now, I just want an escapism into something more cheerful! 😀 Haha, I have the book in one of my bookcases upstairs, but every time I look at it, I’m like, nah, too big and probably boring xD. So Madame Bovary or Lolita? 😉
Aaah, see, that’s the beauty of that line! The size can change to someone’s experience with the book accordingly! :’) My hangover was pretty big, so I’m guessing Idris Elba would do nicely here. (and this was supposed to be a serious post xD)
Cool! According to the blurb, it’s very witty. I guess my sense of humour wasn’t fully developed yet at the time ;). Thank you!! Ahahaha, lady Sausy will do. It sounds so fancy! 😉

The Diary Of Anne Frank is required reading in school here in The States. I saw that the Chestnut tree came down a while ago. It made me sad. I have The Miniaturist, but I haven’t read it yet. I loved The Girl With the Pearl Earring movie. Maybe someday I will get to the book.

I went and downloaded The Evenings right away because it sounds like my kind of story. Thanks for the heads up. Hex sounds great, too. The Hudson Valley is where The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow takes place. You should add Sleepy Hollow to your list because the characters are almost all Dutch in the story!

The ex and I watched The Vanishing. It definitely is one of those WTF movies. Jeff Bridges character is kind of like my landlord now that I think if it. CREEPY! I guess the original Dutch version is 100 times better. I did not realize it was based on a book.

Tow-Truck Pluck was one of the first posts I read of yours!

Another interesting SFATW post. The fact that you speak Arabic is impressive!

Unlike in the Canadian school system apparently ;). YES, the tree! Omg, I cried! 😦 It was supposedly sick and dying anyways, but meh, so sad. Awesome! I haven’t even seen the movie yet :$.

That’s so cool! I need to re-read it myself as well because apparently, there’s a lot of satire in there and I completely missed it! Ooh, I should’ve added Sleepy Hollow to the special mentions because you’re totally right. I’ve got the audiobook waiting for me after reading your review on it recently :).

Okay, La La, I say you get out of that house asap! YIKES! The original Dutch movie sucked balls, but the book is frightening for sure!

Haha, speaking would be an overstatement right now. I can still read and write it, though, but usually no clue what the words mean :D. Thank you!

All the memories… It’s great to see all the books that I should have read in secondary school together in 1 post :’) Delfy’s book was absolutely brilliant though! Is it even alright for me not to have read Anne Frank? :’)

I vaguely remember (the horror) discussing Multatuli, also Couperus and Harry Mulish in school but I don’t remember reading anything by them. The only high school reading I remember with a Dutch author was ‘De moeder van David S.-The mother of David S.’ by Yvonne Keuls. And of course Anne Frank.
I looooved Pinkeltje too and everything by Annie M.G. Schmidt.
Something more recent: I haven’t read them but I hear Chantal Van Gastal and Suzanne Vermeer are bestsellers. I love your post !

Hahaha, the horror!! I haven’t read Multatuli yet, I just…can’t ;). Aah, yes, I’ve read that one! It’s about a drug addict right? It was certainly a lot more readable than some of the heavy tome stuff ;). Me too! ❤ Have you read anything by Hugo Clause btw? I heard the big 3 have been turned into the big 5 in Belgium by adding 2 Flemish authors. I’ve read one book by Chantal van Gastel, but it was a bit too ‘zweverig’ for me I suppose ;). Maybe one of her other books will do the trick! Same with Suzanne Vermeer :). Thank you!

Yes that’s right, it was about a mother and her son who was addicted. No I haven’t read Claus. Don’t think his writing is what I like to read. I’m not for classics anyway. I did read a little book by Elsschot. It was on a reading list to choose from and was the smallest one. Weird writing and very metaphorical too.

This is a great post, really informative with some humour thrown in to and a reference to mail anatomy to!😂

I’ve read HEX, it’s not bad, the first part drags on way to long though and the second part is rushed but the actual black rock Witch is really creepy and sinister but some of the other characters are idiots and deserve what happens to them – dumb chav kids!😂 and spoiler, it has a dog in it.😢

Sorry for the late response, but thanks Drew! 😀 You know it ;). Wuut, you read a YA book?! Or is it a big boy horror? Lmao @ chav kids! You can find a variation of them in pretty much every country I think :’). Oh god, that means it dies right?

Need a lesson in Dutch Literature? I am! I really liked the Tow-Truck Pluck that I recently read & reviewed that Anne just happen to read my thoughts and post this info up for me (well, not just for me haha).

I think I’d like to read To Never Sleep Again, and The Assault. My education in Dutch literature is sadly lacking, except that I DO know the story of Anne Frank. And The History of Sara Bergerhart is quite famous though I have never read it. It supposedly follows the novel pattern established by Samuel Richardson (Pamela – the first true English novel, some people would argue). I don’t know if there is an English Translation but I think there is a French one if anyone is interested in that.

I didn’t know that Sara had made it across international waters, let alone about it following the first English novel! Thanks for sharing Andrew! A French translation would be awesome for some of us around here as well 🙂

I’m working on my review for Hex right now, actually! I definitely need to bribe you with something (maple syrup, perhaps?) to tell me what happens in the dutch version because he changed the ending in the English version and I NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS!!
The Warlock and the Wolf looks pretty cool, and I have the Miniaturist on my Kindle. I started it a while ago and it sounds like it’ll be good, I just wasn’t in the mood to read it. Historical Fiction needs to be needed and not pushed through forcibly. Burton’s writing was almost lyrical, so I have high hopes for it! 😀
Great post! I love this series. I can’t wait to see what next month’s theme is going to be!! 😀

Wut? He changed the ending?! Great, I guess I’ll have to read BOTH now! Wait until CETA kicks off. Then send me tons of maple syrup! I’ve read mixed reviews of the Miniaturist. It has a great cover, though, and that’s usually all I look at anyways :’). Shamelessly. You’re very right with the HF need or not need. Thank you!! ❤

This is such a fantastic post, and I feel like I have learned SO MUCH about Dutch books on here, so thank you so, so much for this! I liked the cover of The Evenings, but it seems like a very depressing story indeed, haha. Also, I would have loved to visit Anne Frank’s house when I got to Amsterdam, but… I was only here for a day and the queue is…insane.But I agree, her story and this place is so important in History, in your country and the world 🙂
Thank you again for your contribution to this, I loved it! ❤

Thank you so much, Marie! ❤ I poured my last bit of blood, sweat and tears into it for the moment XD. Oh, the queues at the Anne Frank house…yes, don’t get me started on those. They go back to as much as 2 streets away from the actual house! O_o. I never know when the best moment to visit will be since there are ALWAYS a lot of tourists and they ALWAYS want to see the Anne Frank house :D. Thank you and you’re very welcome!! ❤

I’m feeling quite ashamed for knowing so little about my own heritage! And omg, Michiel Huisman from GoT and Age of Adeline?! He aged well. And oh, but the line, “with an emotional hangover the size of …” – yup, reread it and it really did say that! LOL!

The occupation of Holland still pisses me off…my dad is Jewish and I read Anne Frank as a child. Also Number The Stars. Very good holocaust books. There’s still anti-semitism all over the world and it sickens me.
On a lighter note, been getting lots of ideas for your mail! What size thong are you? 🤔
No, but on a serious note…any particular US book you haven’t been able to get your hands on?

Goodreads

Kindle Edition, 320 pages Published July 5th, 2016 by Henry Holt and Co. (BYR) Okay, to be [...]

15 Comments

Affiliates Disclaimer

Inked Brownies is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to www.amazon.com